Tuesday, February 7, 2017

No, Lady Liberty Was Not Originally A Muslim Woman

As if things couldn't get more strange, CBS News' big scoop of the weekend was that "researchers" have discovered that the Statue Of Liberty, was really supposed to be a Muslim peasant women first. Well, okay, but not really. The story that CBS was trying to twist is that French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi had at one time pitched the idea of a massive, draped sculpture holding a torch that would act as a lighthouse as the entrance to the Suez Canal. The Egyptians had just spent a fortune building the Suez Canal and politely declined. They opted to built a lighthouse instead. CBS's report

Not being deterred from making a giant statue for someone, Bartholdi then tried to sell his giant statue idea to the US, as it was coming up to the Centennial celebrations of our great nation. I believe this is how the conversation may have gone when Bartholdi came to the US with his sketches of very large scuptures:

Bartholdi:"Bonjour, US people, have I got something that you need. Wait, let me get my sketches. Non, not that one [tosses Suez Canal sketch in the fire] Oh, here it is! Just what you need for your Centennial, don't you think? I call it "Large Woman In Roman/Greco Garb Holding A Lamp". Not bad, oui?

US:"Wow, cool, we'd love it! But first we're gonna have to find a place to put it. Oh, wait, let's build a fake island in the middle of NY harbor. Hey, Freddie, would you call it “Liberty Enlightening the World” 'cause we need to seem more "welcoming". Do you think you can convince our pals the French to kick a few bucks and "gift" it to us? I mean, it IS our Centennial and they helped a little. Ooh, maybe we should add some inspiring words to go on it. Do I hear "poetry contest"???

Bartholdi:Voila! Great name, by the way."Liberty Enlightening the World". Au revoir, US, I will see what I can do!"

Okay, maybe that's not exactly what transpired in that meeting, but I seriously doubt that Bartholdi was trying to sell a statue of a Muslim peasant woman to the US. He was trying to sell a statue...to anyone who would buy one.

Fun fact: Gustave Eiffel, the man who engineered the Eiffel Tower also build the internal structure for the Statue of Liberty.

39 comments:

De Vos' confirmation vote is today. Fascinating how liberals oppose her so strongly given that her cause celebre is school choice. I confess I don't view it as a panacea (I think parents are a bigger problem than schools) but I don't see how it hurts to give people options.

Trump is now claiming the media routinely ignores terror attacks including but not limited to the Pulse nightclub shooting and the November 2015 attacks in Paris. Flagrantly false, but delusions of persecution are a big part of populism.

Bev, as I originally heard the story, the supposed inspiration for Lady Liberty was an Arab girl. That self-same report--as well as the rest of the media--then conflated Arab with Muslim, which I believe constitutes a microagression, but I'm not a highfalutin lefty, so what do I know? Incidentally, Merriam-Webster has now added "microagression" to their dictionary. I feel triggered.

Not just the November 2015 Paris attack and the Pulse Nightclub shooting but also the Charlie Hebdo killings and the ensuing Kosher deli attack, San Bernadino*, the Nice truck attack, the Ottawa war memorial attack, the Tours train shooting, the Istanbul suicide bombings, and the Sydney hostage crisis, among others. I remember all of those happening and most of them received round-the-clock coverage.

Each of the ones I listed got extensive coverage in the media. The stuff they mentioned that did get extensive usually involved attacks in places like Saudi Arabia.

*An event which gave Obama one of his worst weekends, only to be salvaged (for Obama) by Trump himself photobombing the news coverage.

Tryanmax - "Arab" is often conflated with "Muslim" these days. "Arab" is genetic ethnicity while "Muslim" is religious/cultural, Iranians insisted that they are not "Arab", but "Persian" Also there are Arab Christians.

6. Ok, we can't deny it anymore. It was a Muslim, but who know why he did it? It certainly wasn't Islam and it's racist and causes terrorism to say that it was Islam.

7. Ok. Obama called it terrorism. So it was terrorism. Why are white conservative Americans causing this by invading the Middle East?!

8. Switch to human interest stories.

So yeah, they cover most of these, but they don't cover them in any genuine way. BTW, did you know that over 384 terrorists have been arrested in the US in the past decade? Probably not because only a handful were covered.

Many of those Obama et al STILL only grudgingly uttered "possible Islamic connection" with Orlando shooting. They only grudgingly gave the dead/wounded "combat pay" the Fort Hood/Hasan shooting b/c for 5/6 years Obama et al couldn not bring themselve to considered it anything more than a "workplace incident".

Oh, btw, just bc this isn't getting ANY press, a few of those non-violent drug offenders that Obama gave a Presidential Pardon to have been re-arrested on new drug selling offenses.

BTW, if Lady Liberty was meant to be an Arab, then the sculpture really screwed up. Her face is super angular, like those of Michelangelo. Her robes are clearly togas as well, not Muslim robes. So if I had commissioned an Arab and got this, I would have been pissed.

My head hurts. Even if part of this story is true (Muslim woman as a model for liberty), it wouldn't have been a muslim since that isn't an ethnicity and ranges from Asian to Arab to North African etc. It also would not have been Arab if it was a gift to Egypt since that country is filled by -- Egyptians. An Egyptian, such as Cleopatra, could have been his model. However, most likely the model was someone he knew, probably a neighbor or a student.

True RINOs to the core. They voted against a woman who is for choices in education. If they did it as a vote against Trump, then they are being turds. If they did it because they are against parents choosing where they send their kids to school then they are being communists.

So 84 Lumber is now claiming their ad endorsing and glorifying illegal immigration from Mexico "wasn't political" and wasn't an endorsement of what you think it was. Nope. It was only meant to show that where people have the will to achieve their dreams, they do it.

Uh. Bullsh*t.

They also claim the feedback they got on social media was "overwhelmingly positive."

To the terrorism vs press thing, I'd add that Trump's comments were more nuanced than reported. (I'm old enough to remember when the left was all about nuance!) Trump speaks like an orator, not like he's dictating a letter. That drives the press crazy. They want neat, falsifiable assertions, but Trump speaks broadly and indirectly. It's not crediting Trump with genius to say that Trump talks about ideas while the press is listening for facts (or, rather, lies).

Taken literally, it sounds contradictory when Trump says to an audience that could only have seen terrorist activity through media reports, "you've seen that" and then a moment later says "it’s not even being reported." But that's how people talk. When words fail at expressing a feeling or a belief, we string together words that otherwise don't make sense. I'm not saying there aren't words to express what Trump and his supporters think, I'm saying Trump doesn't need those words to reach his audience. In fact, they'd probably get in the way.

It's not a matter of taking Trump literally or seriously, it's a matter of getting it.

tryanmax, I take it the way you do, like when you see people look at a story and say, "They don't report this stuff!" Obviously, they do. What is meant is there is a general attempt to suppress the true situation and to paint a different picture.

Doesn't bother me. The English language is awash in hyperbole and figurative meanings. If you want to make someone look like a liar (or crazy) just take their figurative statements literally and their literal statements figuratively. It's an easy way to warp meanings and the MSM does it to Republicans all the time.

Speaking of words failing and all the rest, Katy Tur is griping on Twitter about the same thing we're discussing: that in trying to prove Trump wrong, the media is reporting on terrorism, which benefits Trump. But in her rant, Tur links to a story questioning why the White House published a list of terror attacks deemed under-reported that doesn't include Israel. So she's double-stepped in it. She simultaneously reported on terror in Israel while affirming that terror attacks in Israel are under-reported. LOL!

I read a quote about Trump that was brilliant but I don't remember who said it. You are welcome to give me credit although a quick google search could find it. It was in relation to why Trump won the election.

The voters don't take Trump literally but take him seriously while the press takes him literally but doesn't take him seriously.

tryanmax, I don't like to attribute intent to Trump with these things. I tend to think it's more stumbling into things the media can't handle. But the Israeli thing makes me wonder if this wasn't intentional.

Koshcat, I remember that quote too. I think it does explain the disconnect very well. Even now, the never-Trumps keep trying to take him literally, whereas the public is taking a more big picture/overlook the hyperbole look.

Andrew, you are much more generous with your praise of Trump than even I can muster! If Trump is acting on blind-instinct, then his instincts are remarkable! I merely think he is relentless and observant. ;)

Actually, to be clear. I agree with you. I think he's stumbling around on instinct. But his instincts hit that sweet spot where the political establishment is bling. They still see the world backward from what it is right now.

In the past: politicians focus tested everything before speaking and never backed down when it all blew up. They said things they didn't mean because they knew they would never go through with them.

In the present: the public expects actions, not words. So Trump jumps on something and adjusts as he goes.

The establishment sees this as a double mistake -- incomprehensible bizarre statements followed by humiliating retreats. The public sees it as "getting it done" and doesn't sweat any of it.

Sorry about the lack of an article, folks. Last night and this morning has been minor emergency day with a karate related injury that needed an MRI. All is well, just a sprain. But things like that consume massive time.